Think Inside the Box

I've had a couple of questions along these lines:

Dear Alisha
Similar to your post from "Trying to be Jolly", we also give gifts to friends and neighbors. These gifts are usually baked goods--but GOOD baked goods (okay, maybe not as good as yours, but still....). Anyway, I need help in the packaging department. How can I best package these baked goods beautifully...and affordably too??

Pinching Pennies

or
Dear Alisha
Where do you get your darling baking/confection wrapping and presentation items from?

Mine looks like 2nd grade crafts

So to answer, I buy most of my packaging at The Decorette Shop in Tigard. Located in a run down strip mall, it's a treasure trove of baking supplies inside. First some philosophy: I like the food/treats to be the star, so I keep things simple. I don't want it to look like a craft project, but some simple ornamentation can enhance the appearance of the goodie. (Funny, I don't mind the word goodie, while I sicken at the word "yummy"). Nor do I want any part of the gift to look to "handled".

I most often buy plain box in white, pink, or natural cardboard. These are only $.65. The nice part about a plain box is the reveal. The receiver opens and gasps, "...for me"?

Then there are window boxes, they are a little harder to find but at the Decorette Shop they are $1.05, cheaper than most other places. At Micheals they are sold in the candy making section. The window tantalizes the receiver with what awaits. See lemon and amaretto bars peeking out?

On a sad note: if you look at the above photo, the cranberry cashew bars on the right are sitting in white SQUARE baking cups. Their simpleness made them perfect for almost everything and I bought and used them in bulk. Here's the sad part-they are no longer being made. Trust me, I've checked. A fill in is the square, fancy low cups on the right. They're not as versitile and cost more.


These are my go-to bags for cookies, they cost $.45. Note the spectacular cookies threw the peek-a-boo window.

Then finally, this is probably your cheapest option: the clear plastic bag. It can be used in a variety ways. Here I cut an attractive piece of paper to show off a giant sugar cookie (man, that cookie was goooood), tied with a nice ribbon. A bag of bags runs around $2, so they're cheap.

Here's a little one with a single cookie, folded over with cute paper and stapled:

And here it is housing caramel apples:

Just remember, the food inside has to be good. Please, no corn syrup covered cereal or stale cookies. (I'll still eat them on a rough day.) And don't skip me this season because of this post!! Does anyone else have any easy ideas?